Rumble in the Far North
World Swallowing God A cold wind blew across the barren ruins of a battlefield. An army lay defeated on the cold soil as a waded through the battlefield. A pool of darkness sat within the middle of the massacre. The man fell forwards, through the inky black emerging through another pool of it within the city he once stood outside of. The citizens were all already dead, the king, queen, and jack had taken the axe to their heads. The Kingdom of Nelgrast was but a hollow island now. The man grabbed a hunk of meat from a nearby butcher shop, biting into it as he surveyed the destroyed kingdom. "I suppose I'll collect the treasure then." He mumbled to himself as he walked the bloodied streets. His head however jerked as he turned towards the sea. Even through the walls of the city he knew a ship was coming. "How interesting..." His voice drew itself out as his lips curled into a smile. He fell through another pool of odd inky darkness. Emerging again within the battlefield as he stared out into the ocean watching as the approaching ship came into view. "How very, very interesting." He grinned as he took another bite of the meat. Grinning to himself as he hops of the Pirate ship decorated with the desecrated corpse of the crew that once laid claim to the vessel, Rush couldn’t help the shiver of anticipation that coursed throughout his body as he took a deep breath of the air. "Blood and Death" he spoke in his baritone voice tinged with excitement. "It seems that information broker was correct, the one I seek is really in this island." Rush continued as large leathery wings bursted open from his back, and with a few flaps lifted off into the sky towards the center of the smoldering town. After a few moments of flying around Rush’s eyes darted upon a sole figure surrounded by a mountain of corpses, all which soaked the streets with blood and other bodily organ. Willing his wings to retract back within his body, Rush quickly angled his body towards his target before slamming down into the ground a few feet away from his intended foe, creating a large and deep crater. "Your a very hard person to find Lovecraft Walter"!! Rush exclaimed in a loud and wild excitement tone before climbing his way out of the crater he made and standing right in from of Walter. "But in the end I still managed to find you" he finished giving the slightly shorter man a almost hungry look. "I hear your quiet the rare creature in the seas". "Oh is that so..." The man spoke, grasping a the head of a corpse with his right hand. He dug his fingers into it as he placed a foot on the neck, pressing down as he removed the head. The man stood from his stooped position, cracking his neck as he reached his full height. A cloak loosely covered his left arm. His eyes shot open as he glared at the visitor. Two pupils sat in his right eye, glaring at Rush. "I can feel it, you want to fight me huh." He dropped the head as he ripped off his shawl. His left arm looked a bit darker than his right, almost a bluish grey. His right hand shot downwards, grasping a corpse as he spun, tossing it directly towards Rush at remarkable speeds, so fast that some of the limbs were ripped from the body due to the sheer force. "Let's dance a little shall we!" Grinning even more wildly as he eyed the on coming corpse, Rush merely raised his hand and grasped the corpse stopping it’s motion. "Ghihihihi, I can smell the Bloodlust waffling on you". Rush stayed with a laugh before tossing the corpse aside and dashing towards Walter while coating his arm in Haki. As he neared Walter, Rush once again allowed his wings to manifest however instead of taking flight Rush used them to create a gust of wind, which kicked up the surround dust this created a dust blanket for him to hide behind. Using his new cover Rush quickly made his way around Walter before halting just behind him and throwing a discreet right hook towards his head from behind. A sickening voice echoed from all around him, coming from the mouths of the corpses. "I can smell you...." It laughed. Below Walter was now a pool of black his body was surrounded in whirling black shadows with images of eyes upon them. They felt sickening to look upon for some reason. The corpses around the area that had been touched by the ever expanding black had begun to plink themselves back together. Their bodies in a shawl of that same darkness, their eyes red as blood. They began to rise and shamble. As Rush threw the punch at his head Walter spun to meet him, head twitching as his right hand caught the punch. Haki scraping against haki as the blow stopped, shockwaves rushing outwards, knocking some of the risen corpses to the ground again. The eyes flickered around Walter and Rush, morphing and warping. "Do you feel it." His hand shuddered, "It feels you..." With his grin widening to an impossible proportion Rush couldn’t help but feel exhilarated at the small exchange he had with Walter. For the first time since his brother passed Rush actually felt the real thrill of battle and it was boiling his blood to an almost orgasmic level. "Do I feel it you ask"? Rush questioned as he turned his crazed eyes upon Walter showing him the pure unadulterated battlelust that shown within. "Of course I can feel it creeping deep within me". He continued as his grin grew wider and more bloodthirsty. "The madness that slowly eats away your mind and turn you into nothing but a mindless killing machine". He replied again before he allowed a pair of horns to sprout from the sides of his head before carelessly head butting Walter in an attempt to gorge out his eyes. Walter grinned, holding his left arm up to meet the horns, catching them as they impaled it with a sickening sound. Walter didn't seem to mind though, he seemed ecstatic. He twisted his arm to the side, bending Rush's head to an odd angle and partially locking the horns in his arm. "I'm so glad, soon you'll be safe again. I promise." He laughed, from his back four dark blue tentacles emerged, twisting wildly as they dove for the exposed part of Rush's neck. Reacting quickly Rush allowed his horns to retreat back into his skull before using his wings to protect his neck. Using his momentum he rotated his body uncaring of the fact that he basically dislocated his own arm in the process he attempted to deliver a kick to Walter head. The tentacles stuck the wings, bouncing off of them as the retreated back to Walter, as Rush twisted his arm and spun, Walter waited till he heard the snap. He then released the arm as his tentacles came to meet the spinning kick. The way Rush sacrificed his body was truly funny. As the leg came at him the tentacles would wrap around it, using his own momentum to slam him into a pile of living corpses with swords and guns at the ready. Would the slam probably kill some of the corpses? Yes it probably would but Walter didn't care. Grunting slightly as he was slammed into the group of corpse, Rush Effortlessly got up paying no mind to the few sword currently lodged into his back before glancing to his mangled hand before glancing at the pile of corpse he hand crushed when he was flush by Walter. Without pausing Rush pulled one of the swords from out of his body and used it to slice off his useless hand before repeating the action with one do the fresher corps. Picking up the newly served hand Rush placed it upon his stump before using a piece of cloth he ripped from one of the corpse to hold it in place. Already knowing that it would take a few months for the hand to fully heal and bond with his body, Rush have Walter a bemused look. "Your a bit tougher than I expected". He readily admitted as he began to calculate his next course of action. "I’ll really enjoy ripping you apart and adding you to my body". Walter grinned, a maddened smile plastered on his face as he heard those last words. "Terrific, that's great guy. I love that kinda motivation." The corpses then unloaded a salvo of bullets from their rifles at Rush as Walter stood, laughing madly as the sick shadows around him began to pulsate and warp. The pupils in his right eye bulging rapidly with each laugh. As the very last bullet from corpses rifles were unloaded and the dust cloud that kicked up in the process cleared, Rush was seen still standing and grinding madly despite his body being riddled with bullet wounds. "Do you honestly believe this will be enough to stop me"? Questioned Rush as his skin rippled slightly before all the bullets that were still within his body came rushing out and clattering to the ground harmlessly. "If so then I’m truly disappointed" he continued as he drew his sword, seemingly unaffected by his various bleeding wounds and useless hand. As soon as his blade was drawn from its sheath, Rush began madly jack and slashing his way through the gaggle of corpses while making his way towards Walter. "Was this not a game?" Walter tilted his head to the side, a mock smile on his face. From his back, tentacles flew into the ground. They dug deep below as Walter waited for Rush to come closer. Then as he the tentacles jerked upwards, slinging a large chuck of the ground Rush was on into the sky. It soared at least 50 feet in the air as Walter cackled. The darkness around him pulsating. The felled corpses began to shudder as they pierced themselves back together. The Madness of Chaos covered this area, it stunk of death and blood. The wild eyes looking into the souls of the living and dead, driving them to complete insanity. It was only a matter of time before Rush fell too. Gritting his teeth in mild annoyance, Rush mentally cursed as the ground in which he stood was flung into the air which caused him to slightly stumble about before he once again used his wings to take flight before watching as the slab of earth came crumbling to the ground. Feeling the effects of overly using his wings began to weigh in on him, Rush quickly decided to momentally retreat just to recover a bit more, having rushed to find Walter after finishing a battle. Glancing back towards Walter, Rush forced his wings to stay out and quickly took the the hight top of the sky and began flying deeper into the island before spotting a forests, where he began to fly towards. Jungle Madness After fleeing from Walter, Rush mad a crash landing into the forest as his wing finally gave out and retracted causing him to fly straight into the ground. "Damn" Rush cursed as he lifted himself from the ground panting harshly from the over extortion of his fruit abilities while not in a fully healed condition. "I should of waited to heals my wounds before attempting this hunt" he mumbled aloud mentally cursing himself for being overly arrogant in his choice. Glancing around and spitting a small stream, Rush began to make his way towards it in the hopes of gathering a bit of rest before Walter found him and the battle began anew. Walter watched as Rush took to the sky, fleeing him. How unsightly it was to abandon him. "This is unbecoming of you, you can't just run away like that." Walter laughed cocking his head to the side as grim bluish grey wings sprouted from his back. Stretching for a moment he launched himself into the sky. He could feel the madness still shuddering within Rush, not to mention he'd watched him fly away. And so Walter shot off through the sky towards the jungle only moments after Rush had left. ---- Crashing through the trees Walter extended his hands out, black shadows crawling across the trees and vines. "Hey now, come on out. The second round is about to start." His grim voice chuckling through the foliage as he landed with a soft thud. Though he acted like he couldn't find Rush, Walter's Kenbunshoku had revealed the location quite quickly. He wandered towards him in a vague pattern, gradually drawing closer as the shadows spread over more and more of the area. Already knowing his recovery time was limited, Rush attempted to gather as much stamina as he could in a attempt to forcefully seal some of his wounds. Glancing backwards briefly having used his Kenbunshoku to sense Walter, Rush estimated he roughly had approximately five minutes before he would be forced to intercept the deranged pirate. Rising from the floor, Rush gently gripped his sword a bit stronger in an attempt to test the strength of his arm. "Still vastly weak compared to the my other doctored limbs." Rush muttered before letting out a barking laughter as he sensed the inkling darkness getting closer. Knowing full well that in his current state he wasn’t a match for Walter, Rush allowed his body to began changing. Feeling his skin and muscle ripple in response to his command, he closed his eye and smiled darkly as his skin bleed away to a scaly texture, his limbs lengthened and became webbed and nimble, a large tail sprouted from his back. If one was to look in the General direction of Rush they would’ve witnessed the appearance of a large pale amphibian like creature, ripping through the surrounding trees as it grew to slightly tower above the trees. Rush now in his full awakened Zoan transformation letting out a bellowing screech before turning his dark eyes upon Walter who just made it into the clearing surrounding by the defanging shadows. The shadows warped a good section of the jungle as they spread twisting them into gnarled versions of themselves with eyes adorning their wooden bodies. "Oh come now..." Walter trailed off as he heard a rumbling. His haki flared as he watched the highlighted body warp and change. "Ahh there we go, yes get mad get angry. It's easier that way." His sick tone cackling in the air as the eyes that coated the jungle turned to Rush with an unblinking stare. Madness radiated from everywhere, but Walter most of all. "Desecrate." The trees twisted, the ground and soil shook as the terrain became coarse and jagged dirt, the rocks cracked and warped as as red mist oozed from the cracks, and the trees twisted themselves into pointed spears. The spears were not as tall as Rush but still sizable, a majority of them immediately extending at a rapid pace in an attempt to gore the massive target that was his body.